What a weekend! We actually got to go to a BBQ contest with the whole family, yep Roni, Keelan and Kelsi all got to go with me and all at the same time.

We left for Pueblo Thursday afternoon and dropped a grill we sold to a guy in Garden City, and continued on to Pueblo. Got there about 6:30 MT and met Mark and Jen Welte of Carcass Cookers at the contest site to unhook trailers and set up. We suddenly realized that it was 8:00 pm and we wanted to get to LaTronica's for supper so we dashed on over and boy are we glad we got there in time.

We helped Frankie cater a 300 person prime rib feed in Pueblo a couple of years back and had never been in Pueblo when his restaurant, LaTronica's, was open. Great Italian food, homemade pasta, lasagna, chicken parm, bread, etc... Nothing fancy, but just excellent food.

Part of the reason we left early was to help Mark cook 120 lbs of brisket, 100 lbs of prime rib and 50 slabs of ribs for the VIP tent for the weekend. All we had to do was cook the meat, and the staff of the Marriott, one of the sponsors, did all the slicing and serving. We cooked the brisket Friday morning, and the prime rib Sat morning, and the ribs Sat afternoon.

All worked well with the VIP cooking. We had a little issue with one of Marks cookers that had the prime rib in, it did not want to get to 270 to get the prime ribs done. So at 11:00 we were scrambling trying to get a couple of the primes in a grill to get them finished, as well as trying to get chicken done for the contest.

We really appreciated Jen, Roni, Keelan and Kelsi since they seasoned and loaded all the ribs while Mark and I were concentrating on getting contest meats turned in.

The Pueblo contest has always been one of my favorites. I enjoy the atmosphere, the people, the teams etc. This year was no exception. Since we were cooking the VIP thing, I did not have a lot of extra time just to visit and hang with everyone, but we had a great time anyway.

The Denny Crane Moment at Dougs of Smoke N The Rockies was exceptional. I think half of the teams were there for a night cap on Friday night. Again that's why I like Colorado contests, no one is a stranger and all are welcome.

Was great to be neighbors to our friends from New Mexico, Mark and Gina Hufford or better known as just Q.

The contest went well. We placed 7th in chicken, 2nd in Brisket, 3rd in Dessert and 6th overall. Not a bad showing considering the talent of the teams that was there.

Our daughter Kelsi placed 2nd in Kids Q with her steak and shrimp. We forgot a couple of steps in the madness of the moment before turn in or I think she might have placed 1st. Although Chris Naslund always does a good job and is hard to beat and he did place 1st.

Got to hand it to Robert Hahn of Flat Broke BBQ out of Garden City. They placed 3rd overall and we were all really happy to see Robert and Jerry do so well!

Congrats to Jim and Adrian of Sweet Peppers for there Grand Champion win. Two great guys and they looked awesome jumping into the river as the tradition continues.